


Will of the Force

by I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning



Series: In Nauseating Variety: Theed Generator [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Betrayal, Fanaticism, Gen, Insanity, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-09-27 01:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9944480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning/pseuds/I_Gave_You_Fair_Warning
Summary: Desperation





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Another something that was sitting alone in a vault.
> 
> I did something rather inexcusable with Qui-Gon in this one, so Qui-Gon fans, don't expect him to be sweet. Or reasonable.

 

 

The red shield retracted into the wall, and a no-longer-trapped Padawan Kenobi rushed to join his Master.

Qui-Gon Jinn stood victorious, staring down the shaft where his enemy's bisected body had fallen.

“You got him,” Obi-Wan breathed, relieved, _so_ relieved his Master had overcome.

There'd been a moment when he'd feared that wouldn't be the case.

Qui-Gon turned, and there was a distant look in his eye.

And then fire exploded through Obi-Wan's chest, out his back—

He groaned in pain, as shocked eyes dropped to see the green blade transfixing him. “Master?” His gaze traveled back up to Qui-Gon's as his legs gave way.

In an instant, the saber was quenched and the older man caught him, lowering him gently to the floor.

“What— _why—_?” Obi-Wan panted, his body trembling against the pain.

Qui-Gon brushed his fingers down the side of Obi-Wan's cheek. “As long as you live, Anakin would be denied me. We both know you aren't ready for your trials. I would be bound to you until you are, and Anakin would be taken by someone else.”  
Obi-Wan tried to speak, his eyes wide with denial but his vocal chords wouldn't work.

“Shh, shh,” Qui-Gon soothed. “It's alright. Don't fight it, Obi-Wan. The pain will be over soon. The first Jedi team to face a Sith in a thousand years, the victory was sure to come at a cost. The terrible foe fell, but what a price was paid. The valiant Padawan lost his life. There will be songs about you, Obi-Wan. You will be knighted posthumously, of course. So you have attained your lifelong dream: to be a Jedi knight.”

Obi-Wan struggled to pull away from him, but he had neither the strength or coordination to succeed.

“Anakin Skywalker will be my Padawan. The Force has willed it, and who are we to stand in the Force's way? You can see this is necessary. You forgive me, Obi-Wan. I know you do. You always do.”

Obi-Wan writhed, the agony—

“Shh. I've got you. You did well, Obi-Wan. You did everything you were supposed to. You staved off boredom all those years between Xanatos and Anakin. Here. I'll make this faster. You deserve better than to suffer.”

A large hand settled over his face, pressing heavily over his mouth, clamping his nose shut.

Obi-Wan clawed at his face, tried to lash out with the Force—

But his hand couldn't move.

And the Force was out of reach.

Qui-Gon collected pathetic life-forms for his own amusement, keeping them only as long as interest lasted.

He'd held on to this one longer than most.

And now it could repay him for his kindness.

Obi-Wan Kenobi would have never amounted to much, anyway.

Obi-Wan read all this and more in the once-trusted face and his heart broke as he starved for oxygen.

The last thing he saw was the compassion in Qui-Gon's blue, blue eyes.

And when death took him, he wasn't entirely sure it _wasn't_ better than living in a universe with his former Master.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sequel that wasn't going to happen. And now it's happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Miss Learn and incandescentkitsune for speaking up with ideas. The mysterious and unpredictable sparkles gathered around their suggestions, so here we are. They deserve all the credit. The fellow authors. Not the sparkles. Though I can't seem to write well without presence of sparkles. That stuff reads like an essay. Some of my worst work ever was written for contests. And that has nothing to do with anything, so I'm going to stop talking now. <3

 

He'd always known something was wrong.

The pale apparition would flee whenever Anakin looked directly at him.

It didn't take him long to watch far more covertly, using the corner of his eyes—

The ghost looked so sad. So lonely.

It was years before Anakin mentioned it to Qui-Gon.

The spirit stood there, watching with almost as much need for answers as Anakin himself.

Qui-Gon scoffed at the idea, told Anakin it was his mind playing tricks on him.

“When a creature dies, it becomes one with the Force and loses consciousness,” Qui-Gon explained. “It's like being asleep.”  
The spirit nearby shifted, clearly agitated.

Anakin pointed a finger. “It's standing right there.”

Qui-Gon turned.

Anakin risked a full look at the young, now horrified, ghost. Wide, alarmed eyes met his, then snapped to take in Qui-Gon, a tremor of both fear and hope—

“There's nothing there, Anakin.”

Anakin scowled. “I'm  _ sure  _ I saw something.” He could  _ still  _ see him, the shoulders of the azure form now drooping, gaze falling to the ground. “And I know who it is.”  
“Who?” Qui-Gon sounded patient.

“Obi-Wan.”

Qui-Gon's eyes widened, and Anakin could sense panic in the ghost—

And then the older man laughed. “Oh, Anakin. Some Force sensitives, who have trained in a certain way, can retain their consciousness after death. I know how, for example, but I never taught that to Obi-Wan.”

_ Why? _

“Trust me, my boy. Obi-Wan is gone. He will never trouble you.”

_ Right. _

Later, when alone, Anakin tried speaking to the wisp, but Obi-Wan startled and fled.

_ Maybe if I try slowly... _

So Anakin watched how people gentled wild animals, and started applying the basics.

Obi-Wan seemed wary of mirrors, since they allowed for direct eye contact.

So Anakin placed pots and pans in strategic places, then took a seat nearby, staring at nothing, a pensive expression on his face.

Looking sad seemed to draw the ghost out with more regularity than anything else.

For several rounds, he simply outlasted Obi-Wan, waiting until the ghost had disappeared again before moving an inch.

And then, one evening, Anakin whispered without a breath of movement, “I know you're here.”  
Obi-Wan startled, began to fade—

“Please... what happened to you?”

Fear flooded the pale face, along with hunger.

“Why don't you want Qui-Gon to know you're here?”

And Obi-Wan was gone.

 

* * *

 

The next few times, Obi-Wan was even more gun-shy.

_ Maybe I shouldn't have started with asking him questions. _

So instead, Anakin began whispering about his own life. Talking about what he thought of his assignments. Admitting things he didn't understand. He didn't really care what he spoke of, so long as he kept up the low murmur of words.

Gradually, Obi-Wan seemed to adjust to his voice.

Instead of looking like he might bolt, he drew a little closer.

One day, it backfired.

He'd been talking about his Mom.

It slipped from his control, and tears began to fall.

He  _ missed  _ her.

He was about to flee the room  _ himself  _ when he saw Obi-Wan had edged even closer, a hand reaching for his shoulder.

Anakin looked down at it as fingers came into view.

They hesitated—

Anakin's gaze tracked up to the grief-filled face—

For a long moment they simply looked at one another.

And then ghostly tears of his own filled Obi-Wan's eyes.

 

* * *

 

It took years to slowly pull information out of his ghost.

When Obi-Wan finally reached the point where he was willing to answer certain questions, Anakin could feel the lie whispering all through.

“What happened to you?”

“The Sith killed me.”

Anakin frowned and shook his head. “Wouldn't you be at peace, if that was the case?”  
Obi-Wan looked helpless. “Something went wrong. I was promised sleep.”  
_ Instead, you wander, endlessly awake. _

Death seemed like a terrible thing to Anakin, but from Obi-Wan's signature in the Force... maybe this was worse.

“Do you want to talk to Qui-Gon? Maybe I could speak for you?”  
“ _ No. _ ” Again the panic in the voice, but at least he didn't fade.

“He  _ misses  _ you. Shouldn't he get a chance to say goodbye?” Anakin protested.

Obi-Wan's eyes saddened. “He already did.”  
“But—”

Obi-Wan was gone.

_ But Qui-Gon said it was instant. No chance to speak, no warning. _

Something didn't add up.

 

* * *

 

It took more years to uncover the truth.

Obi-Wan was beyond hesitant to reveal it.

He just wanted  _ sleep. _

The Jedi had no way of offering it— you could choose to  _ keep  _ your consciousness, but for those who'd had it forced upon them, what recourse was there?

_ Did Qui-Gon do this to you? _

From watching his master, Anakin didn't think so.

Qui-Gon seemed to genuinely believe Obi-Wan to be gone.

Anakin delved deep into the lore of any Force tradition he could find, trying to locate a way to free his near-silent friend. Obi-Wan would watch, hope in his eyes, only to disappear when Qui-Gon would enter the room.

The Bardottans had nothing to offer, nor the Lasat.

When Qui-Gon and he took a mission to Dathomir, Anakin used the time when Qui-Gon lay asleep to consult with the Mother of the clan.

_ She'd  _ seen Obi-Wan.

But she had no way to release him.

Anakin left the crimson planet with frustration in his heart.

It grew worse when he finally got his hands on a lone maintenance droid's optic capture from the Theed Generator Complex.

He'd been told again and again that all of the footage was shot. Presumably, the Sith had done something so he wouldn't be seen.

Now Anakin knew differently.

It wasn't the  _ Sith  _ who'd wrecked the cams.

 

* * *

 

In the end, it was Sidious who offered a way out.

He told the tale of a dark lord of the Sith so powerful, he could even release the dead into eternal sleep.

It was enough.

It took longer to locate Obi-Wan, the spirit had been watching over him less and less through the years, instead hovering in the Room of a Thousand Fountains.

It was there that Vader sought him out.

Obi-Wan came to him when he called, his face so lined with suffering.

Vader reached out tender fingers and caressed his cheek. “I found a way,” he whispered.

Vader's heart leaped at the hope that filled Obi-Wan's eyes.

“Easy,” he murmured. “Just surrender.”  
Obi-Wan's eyes fluttered shut and he relaxed.

“Sleep well,” Vader whispered as he sent a jolt of power into Obi-Wan's spirit.

The blue image shattered into a thousand sparkling pieces.

Vader felt him slip away, his pain stilled.

He also sensed something new in the bark of the tree, the grass underfoot. Something familiar.

_ Farewell. _

And now he needed to repay his debt to Sidious.

All power comes with a price.

Fortunately, Obi-Wan would never know the cost of this. He would have chosen to suffer forever rather than see so much death and suffering on his behalf.

Vader, however, thought it worth it.

That was the difference between himself and Obi-Wan.

Time for their master to discover it.

 

* * *

 

Qui-Gon stared down at the crimson blade transfixing his chest, dimly realized—

It was in the exact same place as—

It had to be a coincidence.

“Obi-Wan would never have laid waste to an entire culture to get what he wanted. He would have protected your Order from the Sith, instead of handing it over. Sounds rather Chosen to me.” 

Qui-Gon fell to his knees, stunned by the death he sensed in the Force.

Obi-Wan had been so  _ insignificant—  _ how could what he'd done to him  _ possibly  _ have  _ anything  _ to do with  _ this— _

“You chose the wrong apprentice,” Vader whispered, eyes alight with gold.

 

 


End file.
